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Minus Eighteen
Minus Eighteen, also known as –18, and often stylized as minus.eighteen, is an American rock band active since 2004 consisting of vocalist/guitarist Sean Fullerway and drummer Ryan Deckerman. History 2003–04: Beginnings In late 2003, at the age of fourteen, Sean Fullerway, who had recently left a band, moved from Miami, FL to Los Angeles, CA and met Ryan Deckerman at FFLQDF High School. Due to common musical interests, they soon became friends and subsequently decided to form a band in February 2004. However, they decided they still needed a bassist. After several unsatisfying auditions, Fullerway and Deckerman decided they would provide the bass sound through multi tracking and began performing locally on weekends as a punk rock duo, calling themselves "Minus Eighteen". 2004–06: minus.eighteen By the time school let out in May 2004, Minus Eighteen had attracted a relatively large fan base, particularly through performing and self-advertising online. Over the summer, while steadily/quickly growing in popularity, the band decided to write material for an album, and subsequently decided to search for a record label signing. By July 2004, they signed with HFG Records, after getting rejected by several other labels over the preceding few months. The album was produced/recorded from July–September; it turned out to be a more appealing version of the songs Minus Eighteen covered during the first half of the year, reviewers later deeming it "hip hop-tinged pop punk accompanied by more depressing, cleaned-up tracks". The first single was released September 30, 2004, titled "Didn't Think It Through". Though it was a sleeper hit, the song eventually peaked at #3 on the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks and #88 on the Billboard Hot 100. A follow up single was released in December 2004, titled "Hungover", with an announcement for the album's release date, May 2005. "Hungover" was not as successful as its predecessor, only managing #37 on the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks and missing the Hot 100 completely. A third single was released in March 2005, "Of Course", in order to present a more "serious side" of the album. The song was a huge hit, debuting at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April and peaking at #27 by June 2005, selling over 500,000 copies across the United States and helping Minus Eighteen's album, minus.eighteen, peak at #8 on the Billboard 200 and go on to be certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA, and eventually was considered a classic in modern rock music. A fourth single from the album, "All Nighter", was released in July 2005, and peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was considered another hit for them. A fifth single, "Who Cares", was released to rock and mainstream radio in October 2005, though it was ultimately unsuccessful chart-wise. The sixth and final single, "Moving On", released in February 2006, was another mainstream hit for them, peaking at #33 on the Hot 100 (though it took until the summer of '06 for it to peak at #33) as they bordered mainstream popularity with the result of a nationwide tour across the US from 2005–06. 2006–09: EP & Sophomore Release Minus Eighteen finished up touring in July 2006 after about a year of extensive touring the US that ended up including parts of Canada. Though it was unknown at the time, Minus Eighteen recorded an EP from July-September 2006 and announced the release of the sarcastically titled EP to be released in November or December 2006. The first and only single was released September 16, 2006 titled "Oh, Cry Me One", referencing the popular phrase cry me a river; the single peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, which became their most successful single until "Fucking Awesome" was released in 2008. EP was released November 20, 2006 and debuted on the Billboard 200 at #4, eventually certifying 2x Platinum by the RIAA. In April 2007, they released another YouTube video stating they were entering the studio and beginning to record their album, and also announcing it would be a more "experimental" release than Minus Eighteen, stating their newer music had more hip hop influence than previously. Due to it being a more careful production, the recording process lasted until August 2007, and scheduling for the album's release ensued, and the lead single, "Last Night", was released in November 2007. The song was a big hit for them, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and certifying Platinum in the US. The second single from the album, "Rock 'n' Roll", was released April 18, 2008, and debuted at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at #44 a few weeks later, certifying Gold by the RIAA. The album, sarcastically titled Sophomore Release was released a few months later on July 15, 2008, and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, eventually certifying 2x Platinum in accordance with the RIAA. A third single, "Fucking Awesome", known on the radio versions as "Awesome", was released on a few weeks after the album, on July 30, 2008. It was their most successful song at the time, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and certifying 4x Platinum by the RIAA. A fourth and final single, "Luxury", was released in December 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, certifying 3x Platinum. A world tour followed Sophomore Release, lasting from July 2008–June 2009. 2009–10: Another EP & band problems Shortly after Minus Eighteen's tour ended in June 2009, they considered adding a third member to the band, and auditioned for a bassist, and eventually decided on Brent Villeton, the lead singer/bassist for the moderately popular band Nonsense. Relations between the three at first remained smooth, after a few jams at a few shows, and began recording an EP in August 2009. However, halfway through recording, arguments from within Minus Eighteen were reported to be interfering with the production of the EP, with Fullerway and Deckerman complaining that Villeton was "trying to take over the band", in response to Villeton saying he should sing more on the EP instead of Fullerway and the drums "should not be near as prominent this time around". The first single, "STFU", was released in October 2009, and even though it was a hit (it peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100), it indicated little to no chemistry between the members of the band, as suggested by several critics who gave it mixed-to-negative reviews, and the dominance of vocals from Villeton, with Fullerway only having the third verse. The EP, with the sarcastic title Another EP, was released on December 21, 2009, and debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200. It portrayed an obvious dominance from Villeton in which he was the only singer for three of the seven tracks and Fullerway was only credited as the lead singer in "Breaking Down", in which Villeton sang the second and third verses. Fans and critics alike predicted Villeton being a part of the band would not last much longer. The second and final single, "5 A.M.", released January 3, 2010, was a moderate success, peaking at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, controversially, only featured vocals from Villeton. On January 4, the day after the release of "5 A.M.", Fullerway angrily stated that neither he nor Deckerman had given the Villeton nor the label permission to release the song as a single, and after several more arguments over the following few days, Villeton was officially fired from the band on January 7, 2010. 2010–present: Follow Up In early 2010 Minus Eighteen began writing material for a third release, as a duo again, at the time due for release in October or November 2010. By September, the album was complete, but the release date was pushed back to January 2011. The first single, "Down to Business", was released in December 2010 and debuted at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over 500,000 copies in the US alone. Their third album, Follow Up, another sarcastic album title by them, was released on January 21, 2011, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, which was their first album to reach #1 in the United States, selling around 375,000 copies in its first week. Follow Up remained at #1 on the Billboard 200 for ten weeks, selling over 2,750,000 units during that length of time. In June 2011, due to the popularity of "Wasting My Time", Follow Up jumped from #5 on the Billboard 200 back up to #1, selling an estimated 225,000 copies that week. To date, the album has sold over 3,950,000 copies in the US alone. The second single from the album, "(Not) Meant to Be", released February 1, 2011, was also successful, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a long, four month run. The third single from Follow Up, "Waste My Time", was released June 2, 2011, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, selling over 300,000 copies in its first week, becoming not only their first #1 debut but also their first #1 period. A fourth single, titled "Classic", was announced to be released sometime in August or September 2011. Minus Eighteen announced in June 2011 that they would be recording another full-length studio album, tentatively titled Follow Up: Part II, almost back-to-back, through the rest of 2011, and then will go on the extensive Follow Up Tour from 2012–2013. Discography :Main article: Minus Eighteen discography Albums *''minus.eighteen'' (2005) *''Sophomore Release'' (2008) *''Follow Up'' (2011) *''Follow Up: Part II'' (2012) EPs *''EP'' (2006) *''Another EP'' (2009) Lineup Current members *Sean Fullerway – lead vocals, guitar, songwriter (2004–present) *Ryan Deckerman – backing vocals, drums, songwriter (2004–present) Former members *Brent Villeton – lead vocals, bass (2009–2010)